Located on the Cours Albert 1st in the 8th Arrondissement of Paris, we took these high definition photos showing the Monument to Komitas and the Armenian victims of the 1915 genocide, which was sculpted by David Erevantzi.

This first HD photo shows the statue of Komitas, which is located in a small garden area called the Jardin d'Erevan, and named after the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, spelt Erevan in French, this was only inaugurated in 2009 by the French Foreign Affairs Minister and other famous people who had an Armenian heritage.

Yet the statue itself was originally approved by the Paris council in 2001, with the designs by the Armenian artist David Erevantzi being approved on 29th January that same year, and completed in 2002, it was officially inaugurated on the Cour Albert 1st in between the Grand Palais and the Pont des Invalides on the 24th April 2003 in the presence of the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, along with other dignitaries.

Now this next high definition photograph shows the back of the monument, which was sculpted in bronze with an antique green patina and stands at an impressive 4 metres in height, that is positioned on the top of a stone base made of white stone from Saint Maximim in the Provence-Alpes Cote d'Azur region, which in itself is actually two metres.

And this close up shows some of the detailing that went into the production of this sculpture including a part of the khachkar, or Armenian Cross-Stone, that is dedicated to R Pere Komitas, or Reverand Father Komitas in English, along with the 1,500,000 victims of the Armenian genocide in 1915 under the Ottoman Empire and those who volunteered to fight and died for France.

So, Komitas was originally born Soghomon Gevorki Soghomonian in 1869, yet renamed Komitas when he was ordained as a priest. But he was also a hymn writer, composer and musicologist who is considered to be the founder of the Armenian school of music.

But through his passion of collecting folk songs and other traditional music from his heritage that he re-transcribed right up until the start of the genocide, which Komitas managed to survive, he is classed as having saved the Armenian patrimony and heritage for future generations, even though his final years were not the best.

In fact, Father Komitas was actually arrested and deported at the very start of the Armenian genocide, yet was released after government intervention, but afflicted with trauma he was sent to a hospital in Constantinople and then in 1919 Komitas was moved to a psychiatric clinic on the outskirts of Paris, which is where he eventually passed away in 1935 at the age of 66.

This next close up photo shows the inscription on the base of the bronze statue with the artists name, David Erevantzi, which is also sometimes spelt Erevantsi or Yerevantsi, and he was born in Armenia in 1940, so having studied to become an artist, medallist and sculptor, this was a very apt choice for the person commissioned to sculpt this monument in Paris.

Now this next close up HD photo shows an inscription in French located on the stone base of the monument, which generally translates in English to:In tribute to composer Komitas, a musicologist and 1,500,000 victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire.

However, you can also discover another inscription written in French, but this is also written in Armenian, and again this generally translates in English to:To the Memory of the Armenian fighters engaged voluntarily and resistant's who died for France.

Yet there is also a third inscription as you can see in this close up image, and again this roughly translates to:The Reverend Pero Komitas collected, until the genocide of 1915, the oral tradition of songs of the Armenian people and transcribing them he was able to rescue a universal scope of heritage.

And as we mentioned earlier, as well as the inscriptions in French, they are also written in the Armenian language and the one you can see in this photograph is the tribute to Komistas and the victims of the 1915 genocide.

But this last image shows the imposing monument in all its glory within the Jardin d'Erevan, which was funded by numerous Armenian people through an association originally set up named the Friends of RP Komitas and close to the Armenian church in Paris, this can be found by the Cours Albert 1st and the Place du Canada in the 8th Arrondissement of the city.

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